Nursing homes’ “original sin” may be making virus crisis worse

Out of greater than 89,000 deaths from the coronavirus within the United States, over 28,000 are related to nursing houses, CBS News has confirmed. And a scarcity of employees at these amenities may have made the issue worse.

Lisa Cook’s husband Bruce, who suffered two strokes, is recovering on the Stoney Point Healthcare Center close to Los Angeles.

“I feel like I’m lying to him when I tell him I’m going to see him soon,” Cook informed CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti. “I have to say that to him, so he doesn’t give up.”

Before coronavirus, Cook mentioned Bruce had made progress via months of speech and bodily remedy. She is now nervous he is declining and he or she’s involved about his care.

“The actual caregivers there are my angels, I call them,” Cook mentioned. “But they don’t have time to look after him the way, you know, I mean, they don’t have the time. Bruce is absolutely at their mercy.”

At least 14 Stoney Point residents and eight employees members have examined constructive for COVID-19. California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform filed a grievance with the state about circumstances on the facility through the outbreak.

A report issued by the California Department of Public Health discovered a deficiency in “infection prevention and control,” together with a nurse getting into a resident’s “isolation room without wearing PPE” after which grabbing a cart with out cleansing his or her palms.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services gave Stoney Point a below-average ranking for staffing.

“Understaffing is really the original sin of the nursing home industry in that so many other problems like neglect, like infection control, really stem from it, and that was the case long before this virus showed up,” mentioned Mike Dark, an lawyer with California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform.

There are not any federal rules on staffing ranges, however federally licensed nursing houses are required to have a licensed nurse on obligation. CBS News discovered that roughly one in 15 U.S. nursing houses was cited final 12 months for failing to fulfill requirements for “sufficient nursing staff.”

Now the outbreak, which has sickened employees and prompted others to remain at house, is hurting staffing ranges much more.

“What we’ve heard from our members about staffing since the pandemic is that the conditions are far worse than they ever have been,” mentioned April Verrett, the president of SEIU Local 2015, California’s largest union, which represents one-quarter of the state’s nursing house employees.

Verrett mentioned the median wage for nursing house employees is about $23,000 a 12 months. Advocates say operators want to extend pay and rent extra workers. They additionally need the members of the family to be allowed again if they have been examined for coronavirus and have correct PPE.

“For him to recover, or any other patient that’s in there, or to stay well, they have to have their families there. They absolutely do, and there’s got to be a way,” Cook mentioned.

Responding to the inspection report, Stoney Point mentioned, “We take such reports seriously, and this one was no exception. We took immediate corrective action upon receiving the notice and instilled additional training for all staff members on proper infection control procedures.”

The facility mentioned it has “an unwavering commitment to provide the highest level of care” for sufferers.

After being a professional journalist for 5 years and understanding the ups and downs of health care sector all over the world, Tori shifted her focus to the digital world. Today, she works as a contributor for News Brig with a knack for covering general and health news in the best possible format.

U.S. senator Scott says China trying to sabotage vaccine development

LONDON (Reuters) – The United States has evidence China is trying to slow down or sabotage the development of a COVID-19 vaccine by Western countries, Republican senator Rick Scott said on Sunday.

“We have got to get this vaccine done. Unfortunately we have evidence that communist China is trying to sabotage us or slow it down,” he said during an interview on BBC TV.

“China does not want us … to do it first, they have decided to be an adversary to Americans and I think to democracy around the world.”

Asked what evidence the United States had, Scott declined to give details but said it had come through the intelligence community.

“This vaccine is really important to all of us getting our economy going again. What I really believe is whether England does it first or we do it first, we are going to share. Communist China, they are not going to share.”

PORTLAND, Ore. — Just before midnight, police began dispersing protesters in Portland near the county’s Justice Center after declaring “a civil disturbance and unlawful assembly.”

Portland police Lt. Tina Jones said on Twitter that a firework had been lobbed over the fence at the Justice Center, injuring a Multnomah County deputy. She says police were making arrests in the area.

In a video posted on Twitter by a Portland Tribune reporter, a voice from a loudspeaker could be heard ordering demonstrators to leave the area “or you will be subject to use of force and arrest.”

In earlier videos, popping noises could be heard as whiffs of smoke wafted from a street filled with demonstrators, and a police officer is seen momentarily clashing with a protester.

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RICHMOND, Va. — In the former capital of the Confederacy, demonstrators toppled a statue of Gen. Williams Carter Wickham from its pedestal after a day of mostly peaceful demonstrations across the commonwealth.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that most of the demonstrators had already dispersed when a rope was tied around the Confederate statue, which has stood since 1891 in Richmond’s Monroe Park, which is surrounded by the Virginia Commonwealth University campus. In 2017, some of Wickham’s descendants urged the city to remove the statue.

A Richmond police spokeswoman didn’t know if there were any arrests and the extent of any damage.

Confederate monuments are a major flashpoint in Virginia. Last week, Gov. Ralph Northam announced that a state-owned statue of former Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee would be removed from its perch on the famed Monument Avenue “as soon as possible.”

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SEATTLE — Police used flash bang devices and pepper spray to disperse a crowd of protesters in Seattle on Saturday night, the ninth consecutive day of George Floyd protests in the city.

The mayhem in the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood followed a large, peaceful demonstration earlier in the day with medical workers demonstrating against racism and police brutality. It also came a day after Mayor Jenny Durkan and Police Chief Carmen Best imposed a 30-day moratorium on the department’s use of one kind of tear gas.

KING-TV reports that a small group of protesters started throwing objects at officers about 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Police ordered the crowd to move, then used incendiary devices.

After police were severely criticized by protesters and public officials alike for using tear gas and pepper spray to disperse largely peaceful crowds, Durkan and Best said Friday outside groups would review and update crowd-control policies, including the use of pepper spray and deadly force techniques such as neck and choke holds. She and the mayor added that the ban on one kind of tear gas known as CS could be extended if groups need more time for policy review.

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PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has ordered the city’s police not to use a type of tear gas except as a last resort in life-threatening situations.

Wheeler issued a statement Saturday saying he shares community concerns about the use of CS gas, especially during a respiratory-illness pandemic.

Critics have called on the Portland Police Bureau to permanently ban the use of CS gas on protesters.

The announcement came a day after the mayor said police would no longer use a “long-range acoustical device,” or LRAD, to disperse protesters. The device can emit high-pitched, loud frequencies and can cause hearing damage.

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ATLANTA — Protests downtown assumed an almost festive feel at times on Saturday, with Atlanta’s curfew lifted and police and National Guard presence somewhat out of view.

A group of black college band alumni were serenading one main protest area with a tuba-heavy mix of tunes from atop a parking garage.

Students from historically black colleges and other young people marched to City Hall to demand more action on police violence. Jauan Durbin said he began organizing protests after two fellow college students were pulled from their car and shocked with a stun gun last Saturday by police in Atlanta. The incident was caught on video by WGCL-TV and six officers were fired and then criminally charged.

Durbin said youth protesters are calling for increased financial assistance for black businesses from Atlanta’s city government and increased funding for the city’s public school system.

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LONDON — Tens of thousands gathered in cities far from the United States to express anger over the death of George Floyd, a sign that the Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality is resonating with wider calls to address racism from Australia to Europe.

In Berlin, where police said 15,000 people rallied Saturday on Alexander Square, protesters chanted Floyd’s name and held up placards with slogans such as “Stop police brutality” and “I can’t breathe.”

Some 20,000 others rallied in Munich, while thousands more took part in protests in Frankfurt and Cologne. In Paris, several thousand demonstrators ignored a protest ban — issued due to the coronavirus pandemic — and assembled within sight of the U.S. Embassy,

In London, tens of thousands staged a rally outside Parliament Square, invoking Floyd’s memory as well as people who died during police encounters or indifference in Britain. Many dropped to one knee and raised their fists in the air outside the gleaming U.S. embassy building. There were chants of “Silence is violence!” and “Color is not a crime!”

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Follow more AP stories on the George Floyd protests and reaction at https://apnews.com/GeorgeFloyd

SANTA CRUZ, Calif.— A Northern California sheriff’s deputy was killed and two law enforcement officers wounded Saturday when they were ambushed with gunfire and explosives while pursuing a suspect, authorities said.

Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, 38, was shot and killed in Ben Lomond, an unincorporated area near Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart said. A second deputy was injured, and a third officer from the California Highway Patrol was shot in his hand, Hart said.

Gutzwiller “was a beloved figure here at the sheriff’s office,” the sheriff said.

“Damon showed up today to do his job, to keep this community safe, and his life was taken needlessly,” a visibly shaken Hart said.

The suspect, Steven Carrillo, 38, was shot during his arrest and was being treated at the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, Hart said. The Sheriff’s Department and the FBI are investigating.

The deputies responded to a 911 call around 1:30 p.m. about a suspicious van. The caller said there were guns and bomb-making devices inside, Hart said.

When deputies arrived, the van pulled away and the deputies followed. The van went down a driveway at Carrillo’s home and the deputies were ambushed by gunfire and explosives after getting out of their vehicle.

Gutzwiller was wounded and later died at a hospital. Another deputy was wounded by gunfire or shrapnel and struck by a vehicle as the suspect fled.

Carrillo attempted to carjack a vehicle and was wounded while being arrested.

Hart said Carrillo was taken to the hospital for treatment and would be charged with first-degree murder.

The shooting shocked Ben Lomond, a town of about 6,000 people tucked up in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Resident Kathy Crocker brought a bouquet to the sheriff’s office as Hart gave a news conference about the shootings.

“It just breaks my heart that this keeps happening,” she said, as teary-eyed deputies entered the building.